PCMC chief turns heat on officials sticking to same dept for too long

The drive to clean up the civic administration has moved into a top gear,with Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi transferring six top officials from the department they had been sticking to for 8-10 years.

The drive to clean up the civic administration has moved into a top gear,with Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi transferring six top officials from the department they had been sticking to for 8-10 years.

In his less-than-a-years tenure,the civic chief has transferred over 200 officials including powerful ones until yesterday considered untouchable and who bragged about their connection with top NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar.

The civic chief is not finished yet. On his plate are several other transfers,especially of officials who have been in the same department for 12 to 16 years.

Since we were busy with the drive against illegal constructions,I could not effect the transfers. Now we have started moving out officials who have been in a particular department for years. The transfers will happen across the board, Pardeshi told Newsline on Wednesday. The civic chief said that as per laid norms,employees should be shifted every three years. The view is that,If officials remain in the department for long,it gives rise to corruption.

On Monday,the civic chief transferred six senior officials who had been with the building permission and engineering departments for 8-10 years. Among them were Vasant Kachi,deputy city engineer and chief of building permission department since 2004. He has been given responsibility of the drainage department.

Kachi had been under fire from the Shiv Sena and civic activists on various counts,but the PCMC administration had been reluctant to move him out of the department. Who will bell the cat? That was the question doing the rounds for years. The civic chief has finally put Kachi in his place. Now we hope allegations made against building permissions would subside. We hope citizens would now get a fair play, said Sena corporator Seema Salve.

Kachi has been replaced with Ayubkhan Pathan,executive engineer of zones A and B. Vasant Salvi,executive engineer of the water supply and drainage department,has been shifted to ward B engineering department. Executive engineer Makarand Nikam has been transferred to the drainage department of wards C and D while ward C executive engineer Ravindra Dudhare has been moved to ward B.

The other engineering department officials transferred included executive engineer Sanjay Sabade,who has been sent to sector 23; water purification plant head Sandesh Chavan,who has been transferred to electronics department in ward D; and Kailash Thorat who has been transferred to the underground drainage department.

The civic chief had first transferred 74 civic employees. After this,he transferred 142 clerks,who had been in the same departments for years. During his the third reshuffle on Monday,Pardeshi moved out six top officials. We will effect transfers in all departments. Next are officials who had been in the same department for 12-16 years, said Pardeshi.

PCMC administration sources said the transfers are part of the municipal commissioners drive to clean up the system where officials are hand-in-glove with corporators and contractors run the administration.

Transfers for the sake of transfers would not be good. But,yes,if officials are in the same department for years,there is something seriously wrong. Pardeshi should take his drive to its logical conclusion, said Maruti Bhapkar of the Aam Aadmi Party.